[Special Feature] Deep Cultivation in Motors And Drives: M&D Demonstrates Future Potential of Logistics Sorting Through Technological Innovation - An Exclusive Interview with Wang Kai, General Manager

General Manager of M&D, Wang Kai

Remaining steadfast and adapting to change, M&D enhances its competitiveness through product innovation, customer value, and corporate management to counter uncertainties on the path forward.

To date, M&D has journeyed through eleven years. At its inception, China's express delivery industry was in its infancy, with a growing demand for automated sorting equipment. Aligning with this trend, M&D partnered with China Post to jointly develop a series of motors and drive products tailored for sorting machines.

Wang Kai, General Manager of M&D, stated, "After eleven years of relentless effort, M&D has achieved sustained growth, with an average annual revenue growth rate exceeding 20% over the past three years." The team, composed of engineers specializing in motors and drives, has expanded its client base from a few dozen initially to over 400, with end customers primarily in logistics sorting, express delivery, and e-commerce industries.

Currently, M&D operates production bases in Dalian and Taicang. The Taicang base, serving as M&D's headquarters, is undergoing expansion with new facilities set to officially commence operations by mid-2025. In terms of production capacity, M&D manufactures over 1.5 million motorized rollers annually, produces more than 10,000 linear motors for sorting equipment, and supplies 100,000 energy-efficient motors to the European market.

Driven by Product Innovation

Green and Energy-Efficient Motors for Sustainable Convenience

Leveraging technological homology, M&D focuses on motors and motor control systems as its core competencies, with deep expertise in the logistics sorting sector. The company is progressively extending its technology to other fields, such as lightweight conveying products for warehousing in industries like airports, apparel and footwear, and new energy batteries. Additionally, M&D plans to expand from specialized express logistics sorting to broader industrial production applications.

Wang Kai pointed out that globally, approximately 60% of electrical energy is consumed by motors. In response to the worldwide trend toward carbon peak and carbon neutrality, society is actively promoting two key approaches: replacing fossil fuels with green energy and maximizing energy efficiency. However, the motor industry remains relatively traditional. Some enterprises either lack sufficient emphasis on energy conservation or pass R&D costs onto products, resulting in higher prices.

In view of this, M&D has been deeply researching energy-saving technology for electric motors five years ago. Using rare earth permanent magnets, M&D optimizes the cost of raw materials for R&D, and solves the problem of energy-saving motors needing to be equipped with control boards through localized chips. These technological advances have enabled M&D to design energy-efficient motors that cost approximately 1.2 times that of ordinary motors, while achieving significant energy savings and gaining the approval of most European customers. At present, the product has been widely used in energy-saving fans, pumps and compressors at home and abroad, and the order volume is expected to increase by more than 50% in 2025.

In the product design phase, M&D designs the motor and electronic control as a whole, and due to its early development, it has set many standards in the industry. To summarize its product advantages, the main advantages include: firstly, through the compactness of design and the cost advantage of raw materials, the product price of permanent magnet motor has been further reduced. Secondly, in terms of ease of use, M&D has set up a simple external operation process for energy-saving motors with more complex built-in structures, so that more customers can use them flexibly. In addition, M&D has integrated the product, in the past, the motor required the wiring of the electrical box, and needed to consider protective measures, such as the requirements of the electrical box to prevent rain, etc., but M&D integrated the motor together to improve the protection performance of the drive board. This product has also become one of M&D's advantageous products.

Leading Manufacturing Strategy and Competitive Advantages

Customer-Driven Product Diversification and Innovation Leadership

The foundation of product innovation lies in customer needs. Currently, evolving customer demands continue to drive logistics equipment manufacturers to innovate their products and solutions. "In reality, our products enable diversified applications," explains Wang Kai. "For instance, our sorting machines can be deployed in express delivery, e-commerce, pharmaceutical production workshops, as well as heavy-load logistics like Deppon and ANE. We aim to provide comprehensive solutions for sorting packages of various specifications, which naturally presents certain challenges for component suppliers."

For express and freight logistics companies, M&D's products have become industry standards, capable of meeting both the increasingly stringent efficiency requirements of express delivery and the heavy-load demands of freight logistics. Furthermore, we annually introduce new products addressing current industry pain points. A prime example is our 2022 narrow-belt sorter featuring optical communication technology, which effectively solves the signal interference issues common in radio frequency communication. This continuous innovation ensures M&D maintains its leading position in logistics sorting technology, with new products quickly adopted by end-users.

Comprehensive Cost Control and Quality Assurance Strategy

M&D has implemented multiple inspection checkpoints throughout the manufacturing process to enhance quality control. Customer recognition of our product quality serves as the cornerstone of our business. With our origins in motor and drive technology R&D, M&D possesses the flexibility to develop customized solutions tailored to specific customer requirements. Concurrently, we implement annual cost-reduction initiatives across design, procurement, and manufacturing processes to ensure optimal product costs without compromising quality.